Greatest Moments in Marlins History: #22 Kevin Brown Near Perfect Game

10 Jun 1997: Kevin Brown of the Florida Marlins throws a pitch during the Marlins 9-0 win over the San Francisco Giants at 3Com Park in San Francisco, California. Brown throw a no hitter throughout the game. Mandatory Credit: Jed Jacobsohn /Allsport Marlins.com

Welcome back to the Greatest Moments in Marlins History. 23. In the entire history of baseball there have been only 23 perfect games. A perfect game could be considered one of the rarest feats in all of baseball. Moment 22 a Marlins came very close to accomplishing that moment. On June 10, 1997 Kevin Brown threw the 243^rd no hitter in Major League History. How close was he to a perfect game? Let’s find out.

On June 10, 1997 the Marlins were 3Com Park in San Francisco to face the Giants. With only about 10,000 fans at the game they were in for a treat. Kevin got to work early, going 1-2-3 in the 1^st on only 10 pitches. Leading off the 2^nd inning for the Giants was Home Run King Barry Bonds who went down on 1 pitch, a ground ball to Luis Castillo. The next batter went down on strike. The 3^rd out of the inning was a groundout to Edgar Renteria. 6 up, 6 down. The 3^rd wasn’t much better for the Giants as it only took Kevin 8 pitches to do away with the Giants. 9 up, 9 down. The 4^th inning for Kevin was a bit of a struggle as he threw the whooping double digit pitches of 11. Yea, the batters still went 1-2-3. 12 up, 12 down as we go to the 5^th.

In the 5^th Barry didn’t go down without a fight this time, getting a full count before going down on the 9^th pitch with another ground out to Luis. 6 pitches later Kevin got the next 2 batters out.  15 up, 15 down. In the 6^th inning Kevin settled down and got 3 outs with only 10 pitches. Man, 18 batters for the Giants so far and not one base runner. Holy Marlins, we have a perfect game going on! The 7^th inning wasn’t much better for the Giants, as Kevin sat them down with only 8 pitches. Kevin is now only 6 outs away from a perfect game.

We enter the 8^th inning and Barry flies out to left field. We are now 5 out away from a perfect game. Jeff Kent goes down swinging. Kevin is 4 outs away from a perfect game. Up comes Marvin Benard. Kevin’s first pitch is a called strike! Pitch number 2 is a swing and a miss, strike 2. One more strike and we go to the 9^th with a perfect game intact. Pitch 3 is a bit outside. The count is 1-2. Kevin sets up and lets it fly and he plunks Benard. Hit by pitch, Benard goes to first. There goes the perfect game, but wait there is still a no hitter at stake here. The next batter Kevin got on 2 pitches with a force at 2^nd. Off to the 9^th inning. In the 9^th Kevin makes quick work of the first batter with 4 pitches, getting him to ground out to 1^st. The next batter takes only 2 pitches with a ground out to the short stop. With one out away from a no hitter Kevin makes short work of that last out striking him out looking with 4 pitches. Kevin just threw the Marlins 2^nd no hitter and no hitter number 243 in the Majors. This was a truly masterful game.

To think we came so close to a perfect game is amazing, but to get a no hitter is nothing to sneeze at. I mean it was only the second no hitter in Marlins history. I wonder who was the first?